"She contends that the 50% stat is a myth that persists because it's something of a political Swiss Army knife, handy for any number of agendas. ... all the talk about grim marriage stats becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 'It makes us ambivalent and more vulnerable to giving up when problems occur'."

The article also reminds us that the 50% is not an accurate prediction for any particular person -- for educated people the chances of divorce are much lower:

23% of college graduates who married in the '70s split within 10 years. For those who wed in the '90s, the rate dropped to 16%.

Of people marrying in the 1980s, if they were college grads and age 26 or older at the time, 81% of them were still married 20 years later. For college grads under 26, the still-married rate was 65%. For those with no college degree who married before age 26, 49%.